"Amin "The Meaner Mann" Arif Raja is a guitar player based in Karachi, Pakistan. Raised on a strict diet of Dire Straits, The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Pink Floyd & various other classic rock, Amin picked up the guitar in 1995 when there was rampant violence in Karachi & his life was limited to either being at college or being cooped up at home.

Mostly self-taught, Amin got that necessary push in 1996 when he completed a one month crash course from the American Institute of Guitar in New York. Always wanting to play lead guitar in a rock group, Amin joined Karachi underground band Drift in 2001, & his first gig was the prestigious Karachi Rockfest, a platform for Karachi's underground bands. Unwilling to compromise on their musical content, Drift continued to perform as an underground band at various venues in Karachi, & recorded 2 songs & a music video in 2004. Both numbers were well received online & Amin's lead guitar playing received due praise. But Drift disbanded in 2006, mainly because their music was more attuned to western tastes, which could never capture enough of a market in Pakistan to be commercially successful.

Amin's enthusiasm & improvisational guitar skills on stage impressed standup comedian Saad Haroon, & in 2006 Amin was approached by Saad to play guitar for him on his hit comedy show “The Real News”. A month later, Amin joined Saad on his “3-4-5” standup comedy tour, performing in Karachi, Lahore, & Islamabad. Saad discovered that Amin also had creative songwriting skills (both were strongly influenced by Beatles & Bob Dylan) & they started writing original songs together. Before their standup tour to Dubai, they wrote the “Dubai Song” specifically for that audience. Later on they came up with 2 more popular numbers, a rap song called “The Karachi Song” & a blues number about the troubles in Pakistan called “The Paki Pure Blues”.

Amin has now made himself available as a session guitarist for your studio recordings, as well as live performances.

If you are interested in working with "The Meaner Mann", please email to meanermann@yahoo.com, or text him at 92 300 826 72 67.

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